AzureZephyr: Hiya everyone, its been busy for me lately with school coming up and all but I hope you all enjoy this chapter of Visiting Aliens. For this chapter we have my very own OC Nyx helping out here!
Nyx: waves hello everyone. First of Azure would like to apologize for being late once more...she can get easily distracted.
AzureZephyr: Hey!! okay so maybe that is true...looks at calender and groans gawwwds...just two and a half years...just two and a half years..
Nyx: laughs nervously hahaha...please excuse Azure, she just got her schedule for her nursing classes and pretty much booked...
Azure: Why is it that the semester I get accepted is the year the school decides to compress units!? Books!! where the hell are my textbooks!! Gah!! Mom's gonna murder me if I lose 'em! searches wildly for pharmacology book
Nyx: sweats and coughs Anyway... AzureZephyr will answer some questions/suggestions given to use by the reviewers:
Solartiger: I'm still figuring how I want to portray Akane really, I said there will be some bashing of her because the thing is I don't really hate her, but I don't really like her that much either. I'll see what happens later in the story. As for challenging Ranma's aliens...well that's going to be eventually I know indefinitely.
DragonMan180: Lol I guess you can call the mobiusin a clone of sonic, since it was pretty much based off of him. And sonic is one of my all time favorite games too! The metroid idea seems like a good idea, I'll have to do some research on them but if you have any info for me just PM me anytime!
Helljump: Sorry if I didn't make it clear enough in the chapter. Basically what happened to Nyx is that he got a curse from the springs too like Genma and Ranma. The only thing wit his curse is I thought it would be interesting if since he's an alien that the springs cursed affected him differently.
OkdroMasterOfRunes: Hmm...the DNA thing sounds like a really nice suggestion, I almost forgot about that function on the omnitrix. Since Ranma's is sorta similar it might work. I'll see about that because my first intention was for Ranma to have not all the same aliens as Ben has but that might be tweaked. As for the predator...uhmm its...its an interesting suggestion but I'm trying to keep this rated and I don't think having predators would help . I like the idea and the movies were good just that...coughs yeah predators aren't really my thing sry!!
Nyx: looks over paper I guess that's about it for questions. Once again, AzureZephyr only owns me and the plot, not Ranma ½ or Ben10. Reviews and suggestions will be appreciated and flames will be used to make s'mores.
:sign speech:
/Another language/
'thinking'
"Normal speech"
In the second floor room of the Tendo dojo, two figures were sleeping peacefully as the sun's rays started to appear. Well, one was sleeping peacefully while the other was sprawled with the blankets kicked off and grinning stupidly about something with aliens. Unknown to the two still fast asleep, a rather large portly figure was creeping towards them, closer and closer until the figure was in within grasping range of one and in a blink of an eye the figure grabbed one of the sleeping bodies and tossed it out the window.
SPLASH
"Boy its time to get your lazy self out of bed and get to work!!" Genma proclaimed as he soon followed out the window. Unfortunately if the cursed panda man had bother to look at WHO he had thrown he would've realize that the person he had grabbed was NOT Ranma...as said teenager sat up on his futon rubbing his eyes.
"Nrrgh...didja say something pops?" rubbing the sleep away from his eyes he blinked and looked around the room. It was completely empty. Letting out another loud yawn he scratched the back of his head and stood up to stretch. "I coulda swore I heard pops just a few minutes ago...wonder if Nyx-niisan is up"
He didn't have to wait long for his answer as he looked to the futon next to him. Once he realized that Nyx was missing from his bed that made the teenager think to back a moment ago when he heard his pops shouting. "It's morning, pops usually grabs me and tosses me out the window into the...oh crap!! Nyx-niisan!!" Ranma shouted, running to the window. He stared down and groaned. There was his pops standing smugly in front of the koi pond in the back. "Stupid pops!! you grabbed Nyx-niisan AGAIN!!" he shouted leaning out the window, and hoping that Nyx would get him this time.
Genma landed on the ground and looked back up at the window that he had just jumped out after throwing his ungrateful son into the koi pond. He was about to shout back when he froze. He saw up still on the second floor glaring at him as he was leaning out the window staring down at him.
"If the boy is up there then who...uh oh..." sweated Genma as a low growling was coming from the koi pond. He saw soaked clothing floating to the top as a completely drenched wolf, barely managing to climb up out of the water, its amber eyes narrowing and his teeth bearing. "Oh crap..."
"Better run pops!! Nyx-niisan said that he'd bite you harder if you threw him into the pond again!!" Ranma called from the window grinning that he woke up somewhat normally for once. He saw the panda man sweating as he was trying to create as much distance between himself and the cursed alien.
"N-n-now Nyx-san...can't we talk this over...I'm sure we can do something..." the fat martial artist said slowly backing up.
'Yeah right panda-man!! I warned you the LAST time you did this what would happen!!' Nyx thought furiously as he growled and started chasing the bald Saotome around the backyard.
Several times the cursed alien came close to biting Genma's limbs but the martial artist would just barely slip away. Akane had come down the stairs and was about to ask Kasumi when breakfast was ready, when she heard the commotion outside. Curiously she walked over to the patio and watched not amused at all with the scene. "Great, I don't know if I should be happy it's not that idiot or if its his pet this time." she muttered before turning swiftly back towards the house to finish some work for school.
Genma made a quick turn and leap onto the patio but not before Nyx managed to grab the back of the martial artist's pants, trying to drag him back out. Thankfully Genma had a bit more grip on the wooden surface and managed to slip away from Nyx but not without a hole coming out from the back his pants. Genma turned and glared at the smirking wolf as he wagged his tail happily at his catch. So he hadn't managed to bite a limb this time, at least he could embarrass the elder saotome. Ranma meanwhile enjoyed the show from his window and laughed hysterically his father's pants had suffered.
"Nice shot Nyx-niisan!! you were close!!" he called out. Nyx just spat out the piece of cloth in his mouth and just barked back at Ranma before he sat outside the patio shaking off the excess water on him.
"Oh my, Nyx-san did you get thrown again?" a gentle voice asked as footsteps walked onto the patio.
Nyx sighed as much as a wolf could and nodded as he looked up into the elder Tendo sister's face. She was already carrying a towel and sat down on the patio as she tossed the towel on his head and started to try Nyx off. This had become almost a natural occurrence since Kasumi was up so early she would help the cursed alien dry off before letting him inside the house.
"We don't want you running around the house soaking wet like last time." Kasumi said as she started to dry his neck. "I think father's back is still sore from it."
Nyx couldn't help but wince when he recalled when he had gone inside the house to give chase to the panda man. He had left several puddles around that resulted in the Tendo father slipping and crashing onto the floor as he was headed to the patio to sit in the morning, Nabiki had slipped on some water at the bottom of the stairs resulting in her falling backwards and straight into Ranma and Akane as they were coming down the stairs arguing once more. The final result? Three teenagers groaning at the bottom of the stairs, Soun knocked unconscious on the patio and a smirking Genma hiding inside the dojo watching all this. Yeah, he didn't exactly want a repeat of that particular incident.
Once Kasumi had dried most of Nyx's fur she allowed him inside the Tendo household. Nyx ran up the stairs, just managing to avoid crashing into Nabiki as he nudged the door that he shared with Genma and Ranma. The teenage Saotome had just finished changing his shirts and was tying his pigtail when Nyx walked in, closed the shoji door with his nose and walked to the middle of the room waiting for the boy to finish. Once he was finished tying his pigtail Ranma leaned over and pressed the clip on the wolf's ear and soon Nyx was in his human form once again, he was quickly tossed some clothes from Ranma.
"So think you'll get him before pops run into the house?" Ranma asked grinning as he waited for the alien to finish. Nyx just shrugged as he quickly got dressed. "I'm getting better in that form so maybe soon." the alien replied smirking right back. Once Nyx had clothes on and looked presentable, the two walked down the stairs and saw the breakfast already sitting in front of them.
"Ah, we were about to start Ranma-kun, Nyx-san." Kasumi said as she handed Nyx a bowl of rice.
"Thank you Kasumi-san, it smells delicious." Nyx replied kindly as he started eating his breakfast. But as soon as everyone else started eating the cursed alien found his fish suddenly missing. Narrowing his amber eyes he looked over at the bald martial artist as he was about to take a bit out of HIS fish.
"Genma...what happened to YOUR fish..." Nyx asked flatly glaring at the man. He knew the panda man's greed knew no bounds but it still irritated him to no end, despite the number of years he's traveled with him. Genma stopped momentarily before coughing and hiding the fish behind his back.
"A martial artist must be ready to defend not only himself but his possessions as well. " quoted Genma making Nyx roll his eyes and scowl darkly at the fat martial artist. Ranma just looked between them uneasily as this was a common argument that always occurred when Genma decided to take more then his fair share, saying that it was part of his training. There were unfortunately plenty of flaws with what he had just said.
"If that thick cue ball you call a head of yours remembered I AM NOT A MARTIAL ARTIST" Nyx replied stressing the not martial artist part as he gripped his chopsticks tighter in his grip.
The whole table could feel the tension building between the two. The tendos looked confused while Ranma sighed and tried to get back Nyx's fish before another argument broke out.
"If you had just given in and let me teach you-" Genma started but stopped when Nyx slammed his chopsticks on the table making the plates and bowls shake and surprising the others.
"And become a student under YOU and your so called methods?" he retorted hotly as he stood up and pointed a finger at the fat martial artist, "I'd rather be shaved bald and hang by my eyelids with lemons being poured in them then study the art under you!! I still find it hard to believe you're a 'master' of your art."
The four Tendos at the table couldn't help but wince at that statement.
"He really hates Genma doesn't he...?" Nabiki muttered as she watched, wondering how she could use the information from the argument into her favor.
"Well they are a family and it wouldn't really be normal if there wasn't some conflict." Soun tried to reason but Nabiki raised an eyebrow at her father.
"But daddy, did you forget?" she asked, "Nyx has a different last name, and he's Ranma's 'unofficial' brother." Soun didn't say anything after that.
"Look at Ranma! He's fine after my training!!" Genma reasoned as he stood up too to glare eye to eye with the other. That was probably the last thing the balding martial artist should have said if he wanted to win the argument with the alien.
"Oh right! Doing what you did to him is PERFECTLY acceptable NOT!! I'll admit that Ranma is stronger thanks to you somewhat, but that doesn't even cover HALF of the crap you made him go through that wasn't even PART of your art!!" Nyx yelled back.
"My methods were FINE!! It doesn't matter how you get there its the end result that counts!" Genma argued back.
"Right, if the methods are inhumane borderline torture then the end result makes EVERYTHING all worthwhile, I doubt that!!"
"Ranma-kun does this happen a lot?" Kasumi asked looking at the two tossing arguments at each other.
Nabiki let out a yawn as she sipped her coffee as she watched the two interact. She took special notice of how rather protective Nyx was to Ranma, she stored that bit of information in the back of her head to be used later.
"You get use to it after a while." Ranma sighed as he quickly snatched the stolen fish out of Genma's clutches and put it back on Nyx's plate.
"You're weak like a woman!! I don't know how I ALLOWED you to travel with us." Genma sneered.
Nyx smirked right back, "because Ranma refused to leave his 'niisan' behind and you got the excuse to run off doing whatever crap you do whenever we hit a town. "he replied airy, "Bottom line, you wanted some time to get drunk and you got a free babysitter no strings attached...at least you didn't see the the strings back then. Didn't expect Ranma to think for himself did you panda-man."
It seemed that Nyx had won that round as he sat back down ate his breakfast peacefully; ignoring the piercing glare that Genma was giving him.
"Okaay...hey look at the time guys we better go if we want to get on time." Nabiki said draining her coffee as she stood up from the table. The two teenagers glanced at the clock too and saw how late it was becoming. Quickly finishing their food they followed Nabiki out the door, well except for Ranma as Nyx stopped him for a minute. He had stood up from the table after finishing the remnants of his food and walked over to the saotome as he was putting his shoes on.
"Ranma, after your schooling today I'll meet you in front of the gate. I've decided that we're going to go back to training." he said.
"Really? Alright it's been awhile since we last trained." Ranma said excited as he stood up and shouldered his school bag. "Alright then Nyx-niisan see you after school!!"
Nyx nodded and watched the three of them leave and turned back to the table only to see it empty of its occupants, all but Kasumi who was starting to gather the plates in her arms. Frowning, the alien walked up to the eldest Tendo girl. He could've sworn the fathers were still eating, especially Genma.
"Kasumi-san, where did Genma and your father go? They were still eating weren't they?" he asked.
The elder tendo sister stopped what she was doing for a moment to give her guest a reply. "Oh, father and Uncle Genma decided to go play shogi on the veranda." she replied as she gather the plates. Taking a glance over to the veranda, he saw that indeed the two fathers were sitting down and discussing something as they cheated each other at shogi. He turned back to Kasumi, watching her for a few minutes as she gathered the plates from the table.
"Kasumi would you mind if I helped you clear the table?" Nyx asked suddenly taking the girl by surprise.
"But you're a guest Nyx-san, you shouldn't be bothered with doing this kind of thing." Kasumi replied, making the alien shake his head.
"Believe me, this is the least I can do for allowing us shelter in your home and staying here despite the circumstances." Nyx replied reaching over and taking some of the plates Kasumi had in her arms as he gathered a few glasses also. Kasumi stood there watching him before she couldn't help but ask.
"Nyx-san? Don't you usually leave early to look around Nermia or back into the dojo for some project??" she asked curiously.
It was true, Nyx usually (if he wasn't thrown out of the window by Genma) would just grab an apple and take a nice long walk around Nerima. He would look around so that he would know the general area in case Vilgax's scouts came looking for him here. When he was alone in the dojo, he would be running maintenance tests on the things he had managed to store in his bag. His current project was building a scanner to detect any alien activity, the only problem was that he was having trouble finding the parts he needed for it.
"Well it won't hurt to help you clean up the table and do some chores. Doesn't anyone help you with them?" Nyx asked as he grabbed the last few plates and followed Kasumi into the kitchen. They set the plates on the counter and Nyx scrapped the leftovers into the trash while the elder tendo sister started washing them.
"Well no not really. Akane-chan and Nabiki are too busy with schoo and activities while father and Uncle Genma are too busy playing shogi or they go out." Kasumi replied thoughtfully then added, " I don't mind actually." she replied smiling back at the alien. That only made the griffin frown even more.
"But still, you could ask Ranma for help, he wouldn't mind." Nyx stated. But Kasumi shook her head.
"I couldn't do that!" her answer made Nyx shakes his head as he looked back at the girl.
"Kasumi, Genma eats enough for FIVE people, the least you can do is make him work for it." he grumbled. "Besides with three more additions to your home, two who are human trash disposals its going to get kind of rough."
"It's true but we'll manage some how." Kasumi replied as she went back washing the dishes and handing them to Nyx once he finished scrapping the leftovers into the trash and was now drying them. The alien though, was having thoughts on the elder tendo sister. The way Kasumi seemed so accepting of the role she had in the household, which she would always be here just taking care of the family. That just didn't seem right to him, especially since Kasumi still looked young enough to do something with her life.
"Kasumi not to be rude or anything, but wouldn't you rather pursue some sort of dream or occupation?" Nyx asked. "I may not know anything about your family history or why, but I"m just curious since its usual that young girls have dreams they want to accomplish."
Kasumi stopped washing the dish she was currently on and sighed. "Sometimes things happen that forces you to look at the greater good Nyx-san..." she replied quietly. "We have to put aside our desires and dreams..."
Sensing that the conversation was entering unwanted territory the alien backed off. "Ah...Kasumi-san I apologize." Nyx said turning a back to drying the dishes. "I have a bad habit of being overly curious and don't know when to stop. I'm sorry for bringing up something that you were still obviously uncomfortable with."
"It's alright, these things just happen." the girl replied. Once the dishes were finished she turned around and saw a wrapped up bento.
"Oh my, it seems Ranma-kun forgot his lunch!" she said. Nyx turned around and saw the packed lunch that kasumi had laid out. "I guess he wasn't expecting you to make something for him." Nyx replied.
"But he's going to be hungry and by the way he eats at the table that can't be a good thing." the girl stated frowning.
"Hmm...its still pretty early, do you have anything else you need to do today Kasumi-san?" Nyx asked.
"Well, I am suppose to go shopping for supplies if I wanted to make stew tonight and I could stop by Dr. Tofu's to return his book I borrowed a week ago." Kasumi replied mentally going over her list of chores.
"Then why don't we go shopping for supplies and on the way we can stop by the school." Nyx said smiling. "Then we can drop off the food for Ranma and stop by this Tofu-san."
As Kasumi looked like she was about to argue with Nyx about helping her she saw that familiar stubborn look that Akane got sometimes and gave in. She knew once someone had that look on their face it would take a lot of convincing for them to get them to go against the idea.
"Well if you're so insistent on helping me I guess I shouldn't complain right?" Kasumi replied smiling back at the alien. She walked out of the kitchen to get her shopping basket as Nyx was about to follow her when he stopped. Quickly grabbing a thermos he filled it with hot water before he following after Kasumi. Just before she left she looked over at the patio where her father and Genma were playing shogi.
"Father, Nyx-san and I are going to shopping we'll be back soon." Kasumi said..
"Alright Kasumi be careful then." Soun waved not looking up from the game, he was trying to concentrate to see if he could out maneuver Genma but what he hadn't realized was that earlier the panda man had switched pieces once again. Nyx looked over Soun's shoulder and just to be annoying he reached over and placed one of Soun's pieces on a square before walking over to Kasumi grinning. He then heard the unmistakable cry of Genma wondering how Soun managed to trap him.
"Ready to go Kasumi-san?" he asked.
"I believe I have everything I need. Alright let's go, I think it's early enough to get some of the fresher products." the elder tendo girl said as the two walked outside.
It wasn't very long before they came to the market. Nyx was intrigued by the different shapes, sizes and colors of the products that the people here were selling. "Nyx-san, would you be so kind as to pick up a few potatoes for the stew? I don't need a lot about three should be good." she asked as she gave him some money to cover the potatoes.
"Oh, sure thing Kasumi-san." Nyx replied as the elder tendo girl walked over to the other vegetables to examine. The alien walked albeit uncertainly towards a sign that read potatoes but he couldn't help but sweat when he looked down. He knew Kasumi said she only needed three, but there were at least four varieties of potatoes in front of him!?
"Maybe I should have asked Kasumi-san what potatoes she wanted." Nyx muttered to himself as he looked over what was in front of him. One the left there were red potatoes, next to that there were whites, and then yellow ones called Yukon's, even purple ones. "Oh boy..."
The alien looked unsure at the varieties in front of him wondering exactly Kasumi wanted. Knowing that the elder tendo girl was going to be coming back soon he quickly looked at the prices and in his head calculated how many potatoes he could get.
"Excuse me, I'll take one Yukon, two red, one purple and two white potatoes please." The said spuds were bagged up and Nyx paid the vendor before he headed back to where he and Kasumi had parted. Nyx shifted nervously as he hoped he had at least gotten the ones that Kasumi wanted for her stew. When Kasumi came back with her bag filled with an assortment of products from the vendors he really hoped he had gotten what the elder tendo sister wanted and not wasted the money she had given him.
"Nyx-san may I have the potatoes?"
Nyx scratched his head embarrassed as he handed her his bag. Kasumi looked inside and her eyes widened at how many potatoes were inside. Instantly the alien panicked. "I'm sorry Kasumi-san! this is embarrassing to say but I'm afraid I didn't know what potatoes would work for your stew and there were different kinds the vendor was selling so I wasn't sure which ones you needed so I kinda got a bit of everything I apologize for wasting your money and I swear I'll pay you back and..."
Kasumi couldn't help but giggle at the sight of poor Nyx rambling. From the first time that Nyx, Ranma and Genma had come into her household, Nyx had seemed like a serious, protective brother in her eyes. He was so adamantly against Genma and her father's idea to instantly hook Ranma up with a fiancée that he had come up with somewhat agreement for both sides. Other times Nyx was sorely focused on a variety of projects that only Ranma would be allowed to sit in and would take time to get Ranma to sit down and read. Seeing the usual stoic and serious tenant blushing embarrassed, rambling aimlessly was amusing. Thinking that Nyx had rambled long enough Kasumi held up her hand as she still was giggling.
"Oh Nyx-san, it's fine really! I was just surprised you managed to but this many potatoes with the money I gave you!" she said fully laughing now.
"R-really? It wasn't that hard, it was actually pretty cheap per pound and since I had really no idea which ones you wanted it was just a matter of knowing how many would work." Nyx replied scratching the back of his head.
"I see, but I guess I should have told you I only needed three red potatoes." the tendo girl replied.
"So what are you going to do with the other ones?" Nyx asked.
"Well, there HAVE been some other recipes I've read in a recipe book that I'd like to try." Kasumi replied smiling.
"Oh good, I was afraid I wasted the money you gave me." Nyx replied letting out a relived sigh.
"But still, if you don't know much about the varieties of certain food," Kasumi started curiously as the two headed to the meat market, "how did you survive with Uncle Genma and Ranma-kun?"
"I guess you can say I don't get out much Kasumi-san. I never really learned how to cook exactly, so I never really knew what went into it." the alien replied shrugging.
"Well that won't do, why don't I show what goes into the food, and then I can teach you how to cook a little." Kasumi asked.
"Sure Kasumi-san I wouldn't mind." Nyx replied, "as for surviving, well I could catch fish and I'd just gut and cook it over a fire. That and there was the occasional money from odd jobs around the towns we visited so I'd take Ranma out to eat."
"I see, well we better hurry and get those ingredients if we want to stop by Furinkan to give Ranma his lunch." Kasumi said. Nyx nodded and followed after the girl, his curious nature intrigued by learning what kinds of food this planet grew, sold and ate.
"and so class with this we can see the the preceding lengths of the rope by multiplying by three, before the second cut the length would have been twenty-seven and before that eighty-one inches. Therefore the answer to the problem is 2/3." the teacher droned on as half the class were taking notes and the other half were trying not to sleep. Except for a certain Saotome who was already fast asleep in his chair.
The teacher turned around and glared at the students making sure that they were actually paying attention. Once the students saw that the teacher had actually turned around the ones that looked like to be half asleep woke up and looked like they were taking notes. She was almost satisfied except when her eyes landed on Ranma. The said teenager hadn't taken like the other students who were were writing down the problem on the board and she wasn't sure but she could've swore she thought the boy was snoring. In her classroom of all places! Ukyo who sat right behind Ranma looked up from her notes and saw the teacher glowering at Ranma and poked his back with her pencil.
"Ranchan! Oi Ranchan, Toriyama-sensei is looking at you!" she hissed trying to discreetly wake up he sleeping boy before the teacher got mad...a little late for that though. The most the okonomiyaki chef got was a sort of grunt from him as he shifted his arms to get into a more comfortable position. She was about to attempt kicking the boy's chair but stopped when she saw the teacher right next to her finance's desk with her arms folded and a ruler clutched in one of her hands.
"Saotome-san, would you like to grace us with your presence?" the teacher scowled darkly.
When she didn't get an answer, she raised the ruler above her head and slapped it hard on the edge of Ranma's desk as a loud CRACK echoed in the classroom, making the other students near Saotome youth flinch. The dark haired boy let out a yawn at the disturbance and looked sleepily at the teacher.
"So glad you can join use Saotome-san..." Toriyami sneered, "now would you please go up to the board and solve the other problem I had written?"
"The answer's nine." he mumbled before he laid his head back down.
"You guessed, now go up there and show your work before I mark you down and give you extra assignments for your homework." she stated.
"But I didn't guess!" Ranma stated, but the teacher just glared at him and pointed to the board.
"NOW Saotome-san"
Ranma groaned. He'd rather not have more work he needed to do since he would rather train with Nyx-niisan. If this teacher as going to cut that time short he might as well do the work to get it over with.
"Fine sensei." Ranma sighed as he pushed himself out of his chair and to the bored. He quickly read over the other word problem that the teacher had written, "Vincenzo's Gourmet Coffee sells medium roast beans for 7 a pound and dark roast beans for 6 a pound. If Denise orders a 12-pound mixture that costs 6.25 per pound, how many pounds of dark roast beans is she getting?" Reading it over a few more times he nodded silently to himself as he picked up a marker and started writing out the solution on the white board all the while talking to himself.
The students along with the teacher's gawked at the once sleeping martial artist seemed to be flying through the solution of the problem as he wrote out the algebraic equation on the board.
(AN: just to let you guys know I suck at math...I took this problem from one of my study guides and I didn't exactly want to confuse you all either by writing it all out in words, that and I wasn't sure if the series used white boards or chalk...I used white boards because they're less messy)
"So the whole thing is then 6x + 7(12-x) 6.25 and then we just multiply both sides by twelve then seven across the parentheses making the equation 6x + 84 -7x 75, put the same numbers together which leaves -x -9 and divide by -1 and that leaves +9. So the answer is 9 pounds of dark beans" Ranma finished as he dropping the marker and walking back to his desk, ignoring the flabbergast looks he was receiving.
Toriyama-sensei quickly walked up to the board and looked over the work that Ranma had shown, looking for any mistakes that he could've done but she didn't find any. Not one. She looked back at the sleepy martial artist as he gave her a smirk. "See sensei? I told you I wasn't guessing." the saotome youth stated as he sat back down in his chair.
"So it seems Saotome-san..." the teacher said trailing off, still finding it hard to believe that he had answered it so quickly. The other students were in shock themselves as they whispered among themselves.
"I didn't think Ranma was paying attention."
"Maybe its some sort of technique he develop..."
"I say he just got lucky..."
"and here I thought he was just a jock..."
"Hey Akane did you know Ranma-kun was good a math?" Yuka asked leaning over to look at the youngest tendo.
"No...he never gave any indication.." she replied scowling, glaring daggers into the martial artist's back.
Ranma felt someone staring through the back of his head and looking around his eyes landed on the youngest tendo daughter glaring at him. 'I wonder what I did this time to make her angry.' Ranma thought to himself before he turned back to the front. He was about to fall asleep again when the bell rang signaling the end of the lesson.
"Okay class you know your assignments! Do the odd problems on page twenty-six and the even ones on twenty-seven!!" Toriyama-sensei shouted over the students talking. "And don't forget about the quiz coming up!! Review the back of chapters four and five!"
Ranma yawned as he stretched out his limbs from sitting down for so long. Moving his neck a few times he suddenly took notice of Ukyo standing rather close to him with a strange look on her face.
"Say Ranchan since when have you been good at math?" Ukyo asked inching closer to the Saotome youth.
"Uh, well Nyx-niisan is a bit of scientist so while pops was training my physically I guess Nyx-niisan made sure I was trained mentally." Ranma replied shrugging as he grabbed his bag hanging on the side of his desk.
"I see say Ranchan whatcha got for lunch today sugar?" she asked grinning.
"Uh...well I don't think I have a lunch..." Ranma replied scratching the back of his head with his free hand. The grin on the girl's face seemed to grow as she scooted closer to the martial artist.
"Well then sugar why don't ya come over to my restaurant and I can-" she started but a look of realization dawned on Ranma's face.
"Oh wait!! Nyx-niisan might have something for me, I think there was an extra lunch box on the counter I didn't take." he said grinning. "Kasumi-san must've made it for me and I didn't realize it!" turning his attention to the girl he quickly added, "Sorry Ucchan maybe next time!"
Ukyo pouted. 'Damn so close...' she thought to herself as she folded her arms.
Just as he was about to head out of the door, a disturbance and loud yelling down the hallway caught everyone's attention in the classroom. It wasn't long before the thundering footsteps came to a stop right in front of the door as a familiar kendo team captain was waving around his kendo sword narrowing missing some of the students' heads that had the misfortune of standing near him.
"FOUL SORCERER SAOTOME!! I have come to free the fierce tigress Akane from your evil grip!!" the upperclassman hollered much to the other student's displeasure.
"Kuno-san, can't you wait until Saotome-kun is out of the classroom for your antics?" sighed Toriyama-sensei but like all the other times the upperclassman stampeded into her classroom she was ignored much to her annoyance. Not to mention she was heading out the door herself and almost clobbered by the swinging kendo sword.
"What is it now Kuno? Can't you see it's lunch time and I'm starving!" Ranma complained bored as he had heard this more then enough times for his current duration in Nerima. Unfortunately Ranma's nonchalant attitude seemed to make the upperclassman growl even angrier. He dramatically pointed his weapon at Ranma who just continued staring with a raised eyebrow.
"Evil Fiend!! How dare you play innocent with me when you have taken residence in the lovely tigress's own homestead!" he shouted.
Ranma slapped his hand against his forehead groaning.
"This again, blue blunder? I already told you I'm only staying there because my stupid pops!"
"I know of that, four sorcerer! But recent information has told me that you are eventually to be engaged to the youngest Tendo!!"
That statement made the whole classroom stop. Sure everyone had found out that Ranma was staying with Akane thanks to Kuno on the first day that Ranma had come to Furinkan but no one had known that Ranma was actually going to be ENGAGED to Akane. Soon everyone was crowding around the two teenagers, much to their dismay.
"Akane! Why didn't you ever tell us you were going to be engaged to Ranma!?"
"How could you keep something like that from us!?"
"What's it like having someone like Ranma living with you and soon to be your finance?"
"Oi Ranma you lucky guy! How'd you make that happen?"
"How can you get engaged to Akane when you just arrived here!?"
"Hey Akane if it doesn't work out with Ranma you always have me!"
Ranma ignored the gossip around them as he recalled exactly how he had gotten into this situation.
FLASHBACK
"So why are we in front of this dojo?" Ranma-onna asked looking warily as her grip on the umbrella tighten. Knowing his father, he was up to something and more then likely it involved him. Nyx nudged her leg a bit trying to comfort her despite the height difference between them in their cursed forms.
: We're here to see an old friend of mine! Now stop complaining: the sign that the panda was holding said as Genma walked up to the front door and opened it with his paw. The three of them walked inside and soon they heard voices running towards them. Unfortunately the two that ran up to them was an elderly man and a young girl in a tradition robe of some sort. They gawked at the huge panda before running back.
"Pop I think you're scaring them..." Ranma muttered as she unconsciously scratched Nyx's head as she looked at the expressions on the people in front of her. The one in the kimono looked scared while the man had a look of disbelief on his face. The other two that had come out of a room just went wide-eyed.
"So this is your old friend father?" the one in the apron asked. The elder shook his head furiously.
"Right then why did this panda suddenly decide to stop by and visit?" the one in the kimono asked.
"Did you invite the circus to our house because I'm pretty sure wolves aren't that well trained to be pets." she added looking at the wolf by Ranma's side.
'...I hate being called a pet...' Nyx thought to himself.
"Oh don't worry, Nyx-niisan won't hurt anyone...well maybe pops here but that's about it." she said. "He's really quite friendly right niisan?"
'Just don't expect me to lick her cheek like some dogs...I may be a wolf now but I am most certainly not some mutt.' Nyx thought throwing Ranma a look that just made the boy turned girl grin and try not to laugh.
Giving a sigh as much as a wolf could he stepped behind Ranma and started to shake off the excess water on his fur. All of a sudden there was a shout that surprised both female Ranma and Nyx...more Ranma because he was soon smothered by some strange older man's hug.
"OH HAPPY DAY!! HE'S IS FINALLY HERE NOW THE SCHOOLS CAN BE UNITED!!"
"HEY!! Excuse me but would ya mind letting go of me!?" Ranma shouted albeit muffled.
Nyx growled angrily, he didn't know who this person was, but suddenly 'attacking' his brother was something the cursed alien didn't like. AT ALL.
"Uh Daddy, you might want to let Ranma go before the wolf decides to attack you." another girl's voice spoke up behind the older man that had Ranma trapped in his arms.
The older man suddenly looked down and paled when he saw a rather big and angry wolf next to the 'boy' he was hugging. He quickly let go and backed away, finally letting Ranma breath. Making sure that the older man wasn't going to try something like that again, Nyx moved close to Ranma and poke his nose into the other's hand.
"I'm alright Nyx-niisan that just caught me by surprise." Ranma gasped out. Finally the two had a good look at who exactly 'Ranma' was.
Suddenly, the elder man and the young girl in the kimono noticed something protruding from Ranma's chest. "Wait, I thought you said Ranma was a boy, this one's a girl." the young girl in the kimono said next to the elder male. She moved forward and started to poke and touch Ranma's chest, making the said girl twitch.
"He-hey!! What's the big idea!?" Ranma sputtered as she moved away from the curious girl and closer to Nyx.
"Nabiki!! stop that!!" a much younger voice shouted.
"Nabiki-chan that's a pretty rude thing to do." admonished the older looking girl they had met at the door.
"She looks and feels like a girl to me daddy." Nabiki said moving back raising an eyebrow. "are you sure this is Ranma?"
"I AM Ranma...sorry about this..." the said teenager said grumbling. "if we could come inside I'm sure we can explain everything."
"Yes, like why you keep calling the wolf 'niisan'. Were you raised by them?" Nabiki asked reaching a hand out to touch Nyx and he let her but still eyed her warily. He really didn't trust anything that had to do with Genma, and if these were the panda-man's friends then he had more reason to be suspicious.
"I don't believe it Ranma's a...girl..." moaned the elder man and soon he fainted.
A few minutes later the said man woke up on a futon and a blanket over him as the others were looking at him as he opened his eyes.
"Father must be really disappointed" sighed the elder looking daughter.
"HE'S disappointed!? He's not the only one disappointed." the middle daughter shot back annoyed. "Instead of a cute boy we get a girl!"
"Oh stop it both of you, he-I mean she is our guest!" the youngest one said.
"This is turning out to be quite an event huh niichan?" Ranma sighed as the wolf laid his head in the girl's lap and nodded.
'Well this is probably only the beginning...seeing how this guy's reaction was to Ranma's 'current' gender there's something going on...' Nyx thought to himself, but he was really only half thinking as despite being transformed into an animal, he couldn't stop Ranma from scratching the wonderful spot between his ears.
"Oh father's waking up!" the elder one said.
"This is your entire fault daddy, can't you tell the difference between a boy and a girl?"
"I was assured that Saotome was bringing his son."
"Does THIS feel like a boy to you?" the middle daughter asked about to grab Ranma's chest again when a low growl stopped her from touching. She quickly pulled her hand back but did a double take when she looked at the wolf.
'Did that thing just smirk at me!?'
"I'm sorry about my sister Ranma, she can be a bit overly-curious." she apologized. Ranma smiled at her. At least someone here wasn't treating her like a nuisance.
"It's alright, I know what its like to have someone that's overly curious." she replied looking over at Nyx who tried giving him the puppy eyes as to say 'who me?'
The youngest giggled as she held out her hand.
"Would you like to train a bit?" Akane asked. The other girl looked back at her. "my name's Akane wanna be friends?"
Ranma nodded. "Sure,it's been a while since pops had been so busy trying to get here. " the other girl replied as she followed Akane to the dojo. The youngest tendo looked back and saw the wolf following the other girl.
"Does your pet follow you everywhere?" she asked pointing to the wolf. The girl got even more confused when Ranma had to hold her stomach as she was laughing hard while the wolf had an indignant look on its face.
"Ahahahahaha!! You...you...you think Nyx is my pet!?" she gushed out.
"Well isn't it? I mean what else is it?" Akane asked.
'Hey!! I have a name and I am most certainly not an 'IT'!!' Nyx barked before cursing inwardly that he was still a wolf and the other girl couldn't understand her.
"Well first off, its name is Nyx and it happens to be a he." Ranma explained once she stopped laughing, but the smile on her face was going to be there for a while. "Second of all, he's not my pet he's my niisan."
"Huh? Were you seriously raised by wolves?" Akane asked.
"Uh no...its kinda hard to explain, but bottom line he isn't my pet." Ranma replied.
Akane shrugged. "Whatever you say, you studied kempo right?"
"A little bit I guess...we traveled a lot but I think I studied it on a few occasions." Ranma replied folding her arms behind her back.
"Aright, you ready?" Akane asked as she got into a starting position.
Ranma just gave her a sort of a calm smile as she grasped her hands behind her back and waited for the girl to attack.
"Hey, aren't you going to get into a starting form?"
"Don't worry about me Akane, just go right ahead."
"Your loss!"
With that said Akane dashed forward and threw out a punch aiming for Ranma's midsection when the latter moved to the side dodging it. Frowning, Akane tried a series of punches trying to make contact with the other but none of them were making contact. This went on for a bit with Akane trying different variations of her attacks with kicks added in. Deciding to try something different Akane raised her foot for a high kick hoping that it would catch Ranma off guard but the other managed to surprise her as she jumped above the kick and landed behind and she threw out her arm hitting Akane's shoulder. Now normally that wouldn't have done anything but since Akane was still technically standing on one foot with her body leaning slightly back so that her kick was elevated the push was harder then she expected so her whole body tumbled forward on the dojo floor.
"I guess I win." Ranma said as she walked over and held out her hand to the other girl.
Akane nodded as she grasped the hand and was pulled up. "I guess so, I'm just glad I lost to a girl it would be so humiliating if I lost to a stupid boy!" she exclaimed making both Ranma and Nyx sweat.
"Ah..why would it be a bad thing if you lost to a boy?" Ranma asked.
"Just because." she replied before walking off.
Ranma and Nyx looked at each other before leaving the dojo themselves.
"You can use this room Ranma." Kasumi said as she opened the guest room door.
"Thank you." the girl sighed and blinked when a towel was handed to her.
"Would you like to freshen up a bit? I know you've just had a workout with Akane and she can train for a while." the eldest said.
"That would be nice...I didn't get a chance to before coming over. I hope you don't mind Nyx though..." Ranma added as she took the towel from her.
"He is rather friendly and house trained so I'm sure it'll be alright." she said before she closed the door. As soon as the door was close Ranma fell down laughing again.
"Ahahahaha!! House trained that's a good one isn't it Nyx-niisan!!"
'...I take it back...even all those scratches behind my ears aren't worth this humiliation..." Nyx thought to himself as he gently bit Ranma's arm to get him to stop laughing.
"Ow! Alright alright I'll change ya back now niisan." Ranma said as he pressed the earring on the wolf's ear and soon a familiar brown haired white-tipped male with golden amber eyes. Ranma quickly tossed him his clothes as the alien got dressed.
"Better go take that bath Ranma, it's been awhile since you had one." joked Nyx as he tied his hair into a short ponytail. "dont' forget about putting up the sign if there is one."
"Yeah yeah, I get it Nyx-niisan." Ranma sighed as he left the room while Nyx started to look over some stuff.
"I wonder where the panda-man went to..." he mumbled to himself.
About a few minutes later a loud shriek echoed in the household making Nyx drop the device he was holding and slamming the door opened. He saw a blue and yellow blur pass him that was the cause of the shrieking. He could hear voices down below, something about a pervert in the bathroom. He quickly made his way to the said bathroom and opened it to see male Ranma in a towel.
"Did you put up the sign?" Nyx asked sighing.
"Yes, it wasn't my fault." Ranma replied muttering.
"Come on and get dressed we have some explaining to do, although I'm pretty sure the panda man already twisted it into somehow it being your fault." Nyx stated. The two quickly walked back to the guest room so Ranma could get some clothes on before they headed downstairs. They made it just in time as Akane was about to heave the table back to the bathroom to 'bash' the pervert.
"Excuse us..." Nyx said as he and Ranma walked into the room getting stares from the Tendos.
"Who're you?" the Nabiki asked.
"I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this." the teenager replied.
A few moments later with everyone sitting down Genma started to explain.
"I'm Genma Saotome and this is my son Ranma." the bald martial artist explained.
"Wait if you're Ranma and he's Genma, then who is this young man?" Nabiki asked pointing at Nyx.
"I'm Nyx Valeth, Ranma's surrogate older brother." Nyx replied.
"Wait; are you really that wolf that was here earlier?" Nabiki asked.
"And are you really that young girl?" Kasumi added.
"Yes we both are." Ranma said.
"I think its easier if we do THIS!" Genma shouted as he grabbed Ranma and threw him into the pond.
Everyone soon gathered at the edge of the room and saw a red-haired girl pop up from the water.
"Now Ranma's a girl..." Kasumi said as Genma walked over to Ranma.
"Not this again, he's going to go on about how 'tragic' this all is, how he's ashamed at what Ranma's beomce..." sighed Nyx. "Then Ranma lets his anger get the better of him and throws the panda-man in the water too and then they both fight."
"I take it you've seen this too many times for your liking." Nabiki asked examining Nyx.
"Yeah, but its all really Genma's fault. He saw the word secret training ground in a Chinese pamphlet and figured it was another easy way to get Ranma stronger. Boy was he ever wrong" Nyx replied as he stood up.
"Ranma, please stop encouraging the panda man. Now get back here so we can see what he plans to do!" Nyx shouted making Ranma stop in mid-kick.
"Yes Nyx-niisan." the girl replied and quickly kicked Genma into the pond again before bounding back to Nyx's side. The two Saotomes were given some hot water and everyone sat around the table again.
"By the way Nyx-san, how old are you anyway?" Soun asked eyeing him.
"Er...I guess close to twenty-two years..." the alien replied, 'even though I'm close to thirty but I'm not going to say that...' Soun nodded then went back to Ranma as he patted the young man by the shoulders.
"Haha you're problem isn't as bad as it seems now..." Soun said as he grabbed Ranma by the shoulders to face his daughters. "My eldest Kasumi is nineteen, Nabiki who's seventeen and Akane who's your age. Pick any of them to be your fiancé."
Before Ranma and the girl's could protest Nyx's hand slammed down on the table.
"HOLD IT!! Am I to believe that the only reason that we were brought here was for you and the panda-man here to get one of your daughters and Ranma ENGAGED!?" he exclaimed.
"It's a matter of honor between the schools! The schools have to be united." Soun explained but Nyx just shook his head.
"Have you even thought of this rationally? They don't know ANYTHING about the other, they're still teenagers which is the basic pinnacle of emotional turmoil you'll ever face in your life and you expect them to go all agree and be happy with this arrangement!?" he added looking between the two adults. When all he got was a confirmation nod Nyx slapped his head.
"Oh by the hellions of Sulphur..." he muttered. "This isn't going to work, why don't you hold off on this entire thing?"
"WHAT!? But the schools..." Soun started.
"I never said not do it completely, I mean let Ranma get to KNOW them. I mean putting two of them together is the equivalent of putting to strangers together." Nyx explained. If you let Ranma get to know your daughters possibly he might eventually want to get together with one but only if you let this go with NO INTERFERENCE." Nyx explained pointing a finger at Genma, but the panda man wasn't about to let this go.
"What gives you the right to alter this? This was an agreement before they were born!" Genma exclaimed.
"Give me some paper proof and I'll back off panda-man." growled Nyx as he glared at Genma. "or were you too drunk to remember getting the agreement on paper?" When the bald martial artist didn't say anything Nyx smirked.
"Ha, so you DON'T have any proof, so by all means this could just be a trick." Nyx stated.
"Now see here I remember at least!" Soun said trying to defend his friend but Nyx just turned his glare back at him.
"Unless you two have some solid proof of this agreement is only verbal which doesn't mean much unless there was a third party there to confirm that and knowing this fat man its doubtful he even remembered where the agreement was made." Nyx stated folding his arms. The two men were gaping like goldfish as they gawked at the alien.
"But seeing as this is a place where we can stay for a bit I'll bite. If Ranma finds any attraction to any of the Tendo daughters by the end of high school then the agreement will go forth, but until then let him make his own decisions concerning his love life. The same goes for the daughters, is that alright with everyone?" Nyx stated.
"I don't see a problem with that." Kasumi said,
"Sure why not, it just may get interesting around here with Ranma around." Nabiki said grinning, thinking of the profits she could possibly make out of this.
"Fine! But I am not going to be engaged nor MARRY that pervert!" Akane stated folding her arms.
"I'm a pervert!? Who was the one who walked in without reading the sign!?" Ranma exclaimed standing up. "It was there for a reason ya know tomboy!"
"Tomboy!? Why you, it's different then when a girl walks in on a boy!" Akane stated.
"So then it's alright for girls to stare at naked boys in the bathroom because girls can't be perverts?" Nyx asked grabbing Ranma's arm and making him sit down. "I don't really believe that's true. In any case what happened will not happen again so long as both of you pay attention if there is a sign hanging."
"Wait how will we remember this agreement? There isn't any contract." Genma suddenly spoke up, trying to use Nyx's idea against him. The alien just smirked as he stood up and removed something from his pocket. In his hand was a little recording device. He always made sure to have one close by when he had to deal with Genma's schemes.
"Oh you don't have to worry about that panda-man, I got it all here on tape and that should be good enough right?" Nyx said waving the device in his hand. "now if you'll excuse me I have some work to do." with that the alien left two gaping old men while two of the daughters when back to what they were doing before leaving Akane and Ranma to argue about who's a pervert.
End of Flashback
'Nabiki must've said something to Kuno and knowing him he just assumed and ran off.' Ranma thought.
He was broken out of his thoughts when the upperclassman decided to attack the 'foul sorcerer' waving his kendo sword around as students dove out of the way and push the desks with them to get out of the captain of the kendo team's way.
"Sorry Kuno I'm too hungry to bother with you!" Ranma shouted as he opened the window and jumped out surprising everyone in the classroom. Just when he thought it was safe he suddenly heard a loud yell above him and his eyes widened when he saw Kuno had jumped after him!?
"What the hell!?" Ranma managed to shout out before he realized that not only was Kuno falling straight after him but he had forgotten that his classroom was right next to the pool!!
"Oh gimme a break!!" Ranma shouted before a huge splash erupted by the two teenagers crashing into the pool.
The cursed felt his body shifting forms and just when he was completely female he felt someone grab onto her chest! Letting out a watery yell she thrust her leg back and kicked the upperclassman clear out of the poor and onto the hard concrete. The red-haired girl's head broke the surface of the water as she swam to the edge and glared at Kuno. She spat out some water that she had accidentally swallowed before she started yelling.
"What the hell is your problem Kuno!?" she yelled stomping over to the dazed kendoist before kicking him in the gut for good measure. Slowly Kuno's eyes opened and when he saw Ranma's female form, the boy turned girl couldn't help but sweat at the look he was receiving...
'Just what the hell is he up-' Ranma thought but he was suddenly pulled into Kuno's chest.
"Oh by the gods!! They have blessed me with this vision of loveliness!! My goddess!!" he exclaimed.
"What the hell!! Lemme go blue blunder!!" Ranma shouted as she was thrashing in his grips. Before Ranma could kick Kuno where it really hurt a voice stopped him.
"Excuse me...but do you mind telling me what you're doing to my sister?" a low voice asked.
Kuno turned and saw an older boy glaring angrily at him with a lunch box hanging from one of his hands.
"Excuse me?"
"Are you deaf? You're suffocating her in your arms!!" he exclaimed pointing to the female Ranma. Quickly removing his arms Ranma was able to breathe again once she was out of the upperlassman's grips and ran next to Nyx.
"Nyx-niisan what are you doing here?" Ranma asked.
"Apparently saving your butt...that and Kasumi came with me to give you your lunch you forgot." he said holding out the box. "oh and here's a thermos of hot water, I had a feeling you would need it."
"Where's Kasumi?"
"Oh seeing how late it was getting, she gave me the lunch to drop it off to you while she dropped something off over at some Tofu-san's place." he replied.
"Thanks Nyx-niisan!" Ranma said as she happily took the lunch and thermos. Her happy moment was short lived when Kuno came up right behind.
"So this goddess of loveliness is your sister?" he asked. "May I know the name of such a vision of beauty?"
"Uh...Ranko...Valeth..." Nyx said warily.
"Ah!! Such a beautiful name for a goddess, come!! Allow me to date thy!" he cried out but was stopped when Nyx held out his palm stopping the kendo wielder to come close to Ranma.
"Excuse me, but no one is going to date my sister unless I say so. And for as of now she's too busy." he replied. "Now don't forget about meeting me in front of the gate after school Ranma."
"Don't worry Nyx-niisan I won't...I'll try and avoid blue blunder there." Ranma added moving his head towards the frozen kendoist, who was in shock at the rejection to actually date someone.
"Yeaaah...better move before he manages unfreezes himself from the rejection. See ya later." Nyx said mussing up Ranma's hair, laughing as he walked off. Ranma rolled his eyes as he disappeared from the pool area to find a place to eat quietly and change. As the two left there were whispers going on, mainly on who was the young man that Ranma seemed to know. Nabiki seeing all these could see the money she would get if she got anything good on Nyx and supplied it to the masses.
Nyx walked back to Tofu-san's place he sweated when he walked in that there wasn't anyone there. He thought he had heard a few voices inside the waiting room of the clinic.
"Uh...Kasumi-san you here?" he asked in the quiet waiting room.
"Oh yes Nyx-san I'm right here." Kasumi said walking out of the door. "hehe that silly Dr. Tofu, he's so funny." the eldest giggled. Not wanting to find out what happened here the alien escorted Kasumi back to the dojo. He could've sworn he heard someone yelling back at the small office but thought he was just hearing things.
A Few moments earlier...
"Here we are! Welcome to the Nerima district." Max said as he parked the rust bucket in a small lot next to the office.
"It seems rather quiet...I thought cities in Japan were suppose to be crowded?" Ben asked aloud as he looked out the window.
"Where in some places yes, but since this is a smaller distract then most cities its not all hustle and bustle like Tokyo." Max explained.
"Aww then that means we aren't going to see any real life sumo wrestlers are we?" Ben sighed as Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Come on Ben, there are more things in Japan then sumo wrestlers. There are plenty of interesting foods you might like." Gwen pointed out as she was leafing through one of her books she had picked up before they had left the united states. They had taken a ferry because Grandpa Max refused to go anywhere without the rust bucket and it was the only mode of transportation that would allow the rust bucket to come along. That and their ex-plumber of a grandfather didn't trust anyone he didn't know with his set of wheels.
"Which reminds me, Grandpa how are we going to understand your friend if he's Japanese?" Ben asked.
"Well he's fluent in both English and Japanese since we worked together for a few years." Max said.
"What if we want to look around?" Gwen asked.
"Hmm...Well maybe he'll have something that'll help you two. Come on now out." Max said as he got up from the driver's seat and opened the door as Ben and Gwen followed after him. They walked inside the small office and Max knocked on the door that was between the waiting room and office inside.
"Tofu-san, it's me! Your old friend Max I called you earlier?" he shouted through the door.
"Tofu? Isn't that some kind of vegetarian substitute for meat?" Ben asked whispering to Gwen, said cousin elbowed the other in the side.
"Be nice!" she hissed, "he's grandpa's friend."
"Okay okay..." Ben muttered as he rubbed his side.
"Ah! Max-san just give me a moment I'm with a patient!" he called out. The trio backed away from the door and a few moments later an elderly man walked out.
/Thanks again Tofu-sensei!/ the old man said in Japanese as he used his cane to walk out.
"Okay you can come in now Max-san!" the doctor called from inside the office. The three made their way inside and looked around at all the medical equipment in the area.
"Hey where is this Tofu-san you were talking about Grandpa?" Ben asked looking around the obviously empty room.
"I know he's here somewhere..." Max replied scratching his head.
All of a sudden Gwen let out a surprised yell when she saw a skeletal hand on her shoulder.
"G-G-Grandpa!!"
"Ahahah I'm sorry little miss did I scare you?" a gentle voice said coming out from behind the skeleton. "Betty just wanted to make some new friends, didn't you Better?"
Ben and Gwen just stared at the man as he walked out from behind the skeleton to greet Max.
"Are all of Grandpa's friends weird or is it just me?" Ben asked Gwen.
"At this point I don't really know..." she replied, "at least the ones we've met..."
"Still like playing that Betty joke huh Ono?" Max asked laughing jubilantly.
"It never gets old when I can still spook people." the doctor replied. "so what do I have to thank a visit from my friend?"
Max pushed Gwen and Ben forward.
"It was getting a bit hectic in America so I decided that we could use a nice break from all the fighting." Max said.
"I see, let me see if I can guess who's who from what you told me." Tofu said looking at the teenagers. "you must be Gwn, able to use magic thanks to a book and a few mishaps with someone called Charmcaster?"
"That and her crazy Uncle but yeah." she replied grinning, "I'm getting better at it actually."
"Haha that's good, then you must be Ben Tenneyson, the one Max told me that got the omnitrix by accident right?" Tofu finished looking at the boy. "I take it you haven't abused that power have you?" he couldn't help but add.
Ben laughed nervously as he scratched his arm. "Maybe one or two times I might have used it..." he said trying to whistle innocently.
"I think more then that Ben." coughed Gwen, making Ben glare at her.
"Well, anyway welcome to Nerima I hope your stay is pleasant. I should warn you no one here really knows about the aliens like they do where you come from, so please restrain from using the omintrix if possible." Tofu said. "there may be some weirdness going on but I'm not sure if the citizens would react as they would with aliens running around."
"Yes sir..." sighed Ben, scratching the idea of turning into stinkfly and exploring the area by air.
"Oh Mr. Tofu uh...san?" Gwen asked unsure making the doctor laugh.
"Just Tofu-san, what is it Gwen?" he asked.
"Grandpa said you'll bilingual which is good for us, but how are me and Ben suppose to communicate here? Neither of us had taken a Japanese course." she asked.
"Ah, I was prepared for that." Tofu said walking to the very back room where he flipped a switch turning the light on. He then pulled on the cord next to the light bulb and the walls in the backroom soon flipped revealing some plumber gear. He looked through some of the things before picking up a small box. "Aha these should do it." he said to himself as he walked back out but not before turning the room back to normal. Once he was in front of Max and his grandkids he opened the box to reveal two small clips.
"Put these on your ears and you'll be able to understand anything you hear and reply in the same language." Tofu explained, "it was one of the basic gears the plumbers had when we had to deal with aliens that didn't know how to speak our language."
Ben and Gwen grabbed a clip each and put it on the upper part of their ear.
"So how do we know that it worked?" Gwen asked unsure. "I mean these things haven't been used in a while right?"
/Well can you understand me?/ Tofu asked.
"Yeah you just spoke...you spoke in Japanese just now didn't you?" Ben said as he pointed a finger at Dr. Tofu.
"Yes I just did. So convinced that they work now?" he asked and the two teenagers nodded eagerly.
"So Tofu-san what was it like being a plumber with Grandpa?" Gwen asked.
"Well I wasn't exactly a plumber like your grandfather, I was more on the medical/research part of the plumbers, We would heal our alien allies and we would research certain weaknesses they may have among other things." Tofu explained.
"So Granpa was like the brawn and you were the brains?" Gwen said.
"Hahah it wasn't that black and white but yes. But don't underestimate your grandpa, he was pretty sharp himself in our department." Tofu said and Max laughed slapping his hand on Tofu's back.
"Don't sell yourself short Ono! Those pressure points and hand to hand combat you did was unbelievable." Max stated.
"So has there been any alien activity here?" Ben asked.
"Hmm...none that I can think of." Tofu replied.
"Wow you're lucky...we have to deal with aliens or some kind of activity every other day." Gwen groaned.
"Hahaha Nermia has its own weirdness at times but none I'm sure you can't handle." Tofu replied.
Just as Ben and Gwen were about to ask more questions on their grandpa's friend a voice suddenly came from the waiting room and Ben along with Gwen noticed Tofu's glasses suddenly fogging up.
"Do you have any idea why his glasses fogged up? There isn't any steam around here." Ben asked his cousin.
"I don't know…" Gwen replied unsure as she looked at the door where the voice was coming from and wondering why exactly it made Tofu-san's glasses fog up.
"Excuse me! Tofu-sensei I'm here to return a book you let me borrow!" the voice said as the owner of it walked through the door. The trio saw a young girl innocently holding a medical book and when they turned around they stared at the reaction of the poor doctor. Instead of the calm collected doctor the had met, they were suddenly greeted with the sight of the doctor moving around the room oddly.
"Ka-Ka-ka-ka-Kasumi!! what a pleasure to see you here!!" Tofu stuttered as he started doing the waltz with his skeleton Betty. "I didn't know you were around!"
"Oh Tofu-sensei you're 'so silly, I just stopped by to give you your book." Kasumi explained smiling brilliantly.
That just seemed to make the poor doctor's condition worse as he suddenly moved away from dancing with Betty to pressing random pressure points on the closest person to him...which unfortunately was Grandpa Max. The old man's eyes widened when his arm suddenly seemed locked above his head and his left leg seemed to be stuck in the air behind him.
"Oh my, I didn't know you had guests!" Kasumi said suddenly taking notice of Ben and Gwen who were in too much shock to look back at her as they were looking at the rather awkward and uncomfortable position their grandpa's head and arms were.
"Yes, yes guests!! It's nice to have guests!" the doctor said.
"Well I better leave you to your friends, thanks again for the book Tofu-sensei!" Kasumi said as she bowed before walking out the door. Once the girl had left the clinic, Tofu seemed to snap out of his daze. He looked around the room and when his eyes landed on Ben and Gwen's expression of disbelief he looked at Max and gasped at the position he was in as he soon fell to the floor as he couldn't stand on one leg anymore.
"GRANDPA!!" Ben and Gwen shouted.
"Oh uhm...lemme fix that for you Max..." Tofu sweated as he quickly pressed a few pressure points and Max was back and able to move his limbs.
"What was that about Ono?" Max asked rubbing his neck as he stood up and the doctor turned red embarrassed.
"I apologize for my behavior Max, It's just that when Ka-Kasumi is around I get a little...awkward?" Tofu supplied nervously.
"Awkward? You go completely nuts!!" Ben almost shouted but Gwen once again jabbed her elbow roughly into his side.
"Shut it Ben! Don't you think he feels bad enough?" she stated.
"No, no...It's fine. Ben really has the right idea. I'm not my self and as he said goes 'nuts'. I'm still having trouble stopping myself before I really hurt someone." he sighed.
"There, there, I'm sure you'll find some way to deal with this." Max reassured.
"Okay when that Kasumi comes around the doctor we have to be out of reach." Ben whispered to Gwen and for once the other cousin agreed with him.
"This is going to be one interesting vacation..." she sighed.
AzureZephyr: Well, here is the third chapter, I would've had this up sooner but with school starting soon its going to be a bit hectic to when I'll be able to continue. On another note, I kind of forgotten how exactly the first meeting betwen Ranma and Akane went so if the dialouge sounds familiar I took it from the first episode of Ranma from the Anime. I don't know if I got the speech right for Kuno, I never could understand how people managed to write him out so sorry if he seems a bit weird. No new aliens appearing from Ranma's Omnitrix in ths chapter,but at least Ben had a bit longer part in this chapter. I'll add in more aliens in the next chapter since I've been doing some research on aliens I could use. Sorry if this chapter has spelling errors, I was kind of rushing to get this posted before my classes started. So Thanks for reading and please leave a review!